Module 1: Activity 2

Complete Exercise #5 on p. 39 by reading the passage and answering questions a-g that follow it. How is it that you are able to answer such questions? What does this experience suggest about the kinds of �comprehension� questions found in workbooks and on standardized tests?

1.     What is corandic?

Corandic is an emurient grof with many fribs.

2.     What does corandic grank from?

It comes from corite, and oig witch cargs like lange.

3.     How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite?

Garkers excart the tarnces by glarking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped storbs.

4.     What does the slorp finally frast?

It finally frasts a pragety, blickant crankle.

5.     What is corranda?

Coranada is a cargurt, grinkling corandic and borigen.

6.     How is the corandic nacerated from the borigen?

It is nacerated from the borigen by means of locracity.

7.     What do the garkers finally tharp?

The garkers finally tharp a glick, bracht, glupous garpant, corandic, which granks in many starps.

The only way to answer these questions is to look for key words in the passage. Luckily, the questions were in order, making them easier to answer. This activity suggests that standardized tests and comprehension questions are more testing students’ abilities to search for key words and copy answers than they are a true assessment of knowledge and understanding. I remember as a student never actually reading a passage that was assigned, but skimming to fins the correct answer. This really bothers me as a teacher. I want to be able to create assessments that are a true reflection of comprehension and knowledge, not copied answers from a text book.